1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to data transfer in communication devices, and more particularly, to creation and transfer of groups by logically grouping objects in a communication device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Convergence of technologies has led to growth in the number of devices available for users to perform similar tasks. For example, mobile communication devices can be used for various purposes other than just making and receiving voice calls. The devices have been improving at a rapid pace in their capacity to store and process information.
Today mobile communication devices can be used as personal information organizers, as a document editor, as a camera, etc. Similarly, there are various other devices that may be used for multiple purposes. These are devices such as personal computers, laptops, tablet computers, PDAs, and the like.
Due to these advancements, the amount of information and the nature of personal information to be stored within a device have increased tremendously over the years.
Also, many devices are now being used for various purposes, sometimes multiple devices for same purposes. For example, it is common for a single person to use his personal computer, mobile phone, laptop and other Internet enabled devices for voice communication. The voice communication may happen either through a cellular network (as in the case of a mobile phone) or through Voice over IP technology (as in the case of other Internet enabled devices). Similarly, users may also be using multiple devices for similar needs like email, chat, and so on at different times.
The growth in the nature and size of information being stored and the disparity of information across devices has created a unique problem. Currently, mechanisms to deal with related information as a group of objects are limited in their functionality.
Considering the example of personal information, current mobile communication devices allow users to create user groups in their mobile devices using Personal Information Manager (PIM) features, like a contacts or a calendar application. The user can create groups for mobile device users and send data to all of them using various connectivity options like Bluetooth, LAN, and so on. The user can schedule a meeting, send agendas and share other details through the group. There are applications which allow data transfer between mobile devices in a group using a common server. In this scenario, data is stored on a server and can be updated by the connected mobile devices. Any update in data on the server is transferred automatically to the mobile devices that are connected to the server. However, data sent between the mobile device users does not get updated for all the mobile devices of the group. This may be because some of the mobile devices may not be registered with the server.
The groups created as described above primarily identify different mobile device users. These groups may allow data transfer and updating specific information related to personal information of users. For example, a user may create a group for scheduling a meeting request by using the calendar application. The calendar application makes use of contact information of selected mobile devices. This application then allows the user to add contacts; define an agenda, and set up a time using a text messaging service. Once the file is set up, the user can then send this file to a selected group from the contacts application. On receiving and accepting the request, the file gets stored under the calendar application or under messages at the received mobile device. However, many times the data transferred does not get stored properly due to compatibility issues. Also, most of the times the user needs to store each part of the data manually in different locations. Performing an update also becomes a tedious task in such a case. Further, there is no means to receive a logically created group from one mobile device to another such that the original properties of the group are retained on the receiving device. As a result, at the receiving device, the process of adding all the objects together, creating a logical Group and recreating a set of rules for the Group is a time consuming and cumbersome process.
Current applications allow users to collect objects present in a single PIM application to form a group. For example, a group can be created by selecting a group of contacts from the contact application. A scheduling application may allow users to collect Vcards, compose agenda and send a request file via an email. Files received on the mobile device get stored along with other information available on the mobile device memory. These files cannot be updated separately.
Current applications do not allow users to collect logically related objects to form groups from different PIM applications of the mobile device. Also, received information cannot be stored separately. The received information gets associated with one of the existing applications available and hence, do not allow users to define rules or properties for the grouped objects. There is no provision for transferring these groups as a separate entity to other mobile device users. Also, there is no method to store these groups separately, apply received rules or update the group accordingly.
Hence, there is a need to manage data and allow transfer of data to other devices without a loss of information. In addition, there is also a need to provide flexibility to retain the original properties of data at the receiver's end.